A late season inaugural call by Meraviglia of MSC Cruises brought over forty-two
hundred passengers to Antigua on Sunday.
As has been the custom, there was an exchange of plagues held on board the vessel
that involved local representatives and the captain of the vessel, Alessandro
Galotto.
The local officials included Manager of Bryson’s Shipping, the local agents for the
vessel, Geannie Joseph, Operations Manager of Antigua Cruise Port, Rawle
Reynolds, Operations Manager at the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority,
Javier Jacobs, and Cruise Liaison Officer of the Ministry of Tourism, Mario
Browne.
Captain Galotto, who has captained many vessels to Antigua and Barbuda in the
past spoke lovingly about the vessel and about a two-week vacation he spent in
Antigua more than thirty years ago.
The Meraviglia is based in the New York and it is a fairly new vessel having been
commissioned seven years ago. It has a total capacity of 54-hundred passengers
with 1650 crew members, roughly seven thousand persons on board. It is 220
metres long and 43 metres wide with 19-decks, two main lounges for show and
four restaurants, a water-park, slides, and covered pools among its many amenities.
Antigua was the final call for the vessel and it will spend two days at sea on its
way back to its New York based.
“We usually do a seven-day cruise out of New York, but occasionally we offer a
longer cruise to offer our New York-based guests a different scenario. We should
be making another trip next January to your beautiful island,” he remarked.
A very enthusiastic, ACP Operation Manager Reynold said the inaugural call this
late in the season is a demonstration that Antigua and Barbuda remains an
important destination when cruises to the Caribbean are being planned.
“This goes to show that the spotlight is seriously on Antigua and Barbuda when it
comes to cruises. It also shows the strength of Antigua Cruise Ports that when it
comes to negotiating with the cruise lines to stretch the season even further. We are
now looking at a very busy summer period from May to October when, compared
with the last few years, it will be more robust than the recent past. We are looking
at between 20 and 30 calls for the summer compared with less than ten is previous
years,” he revealed.
He added that the call of the Meraviglia shows that Antigua and Barbuda continues
to attract new vessels and this particular call is significant as it’s the second largest
vessel to arrive here for the season. “Because this is a last call for the cruise, the
number of people who would come off the be vessel to participate in some local
activity should be very high,” he added.
Antigua and Barbuda is closing in on 500-thousand cruise visitors with the count
reaching 462-plus passengers, which means less than 40-thousand more to go to
reach the target.
